Wednesday, October 15, 2008

why the phillies are up 3-1 on the dodgers

The great baseball writer Ross Newhan says it's time to stop blaming Joe Torre for the Dodgers' problems against the Phillies. Instead, he offers a counter-theory for why the Phillies are ahead:

Has anyone stopped to think that the Dodgers are trailing, 3-1, in the series because Philadelphia is a better and more complete team?

Does anyone realize that Manager Joe Torre isn't operating with a full complement of postseason-caliber players?

Can anyone recall that only two months ago the Dodgers were a sub-.500 team trailing Arizona in a National League West that didn't exactly resemble Appaloosa and the only difference between that Dodgers team and this one is Manny Ramirez?

I mean, Ramirez is having one of the greatest stretches of big-time hitting any of us has been fortunate to see or will be fortunate to see again, but by now his back must be bending from the load.

How far and for how long can one man carry a team?

I agree -- of course, I picked the Phillies to make it to the World Series ... and lose to the Angels. (Hey, this predicting stuff is an inexact science.)